MOREHEAD, Ky. —Blaine Barthel, who has coaching and playing experience at a variety of levels, has joined the Morehead State baseball staff as volunteer assistant.
“Blaine is going to be a great addition to our staff,” said head coach Mike McGuire, whose teams have won the OVC Tournament Championship two of the last four years. “He comes from a winning program, and is well respected as a coach who develops players.”
Barthel most recently served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Luther College (Iowa), his second stint there. He helped a starting pitcher become an All-American and the 2018 Iowa Conference Pitcher of the Year as well as having two National Pitcher of the Week honors bestowed upon the staff. He also coordinated all camps and clinics and led the social media effort for the program.
“He has experience as a pitching coach, has recruited extensively, practice planned, and has worked with position players and hitters,” McGuire added. “He’s a talented coach who can aid our staff and program in a lot of areas.”
Prior to Luther, Barthel served two seasons as a graduate assistant at Southwest Minnesota University. There he coached multiple all-conference players and helped recruit and sign more than 25 student-athletes in two seasons.
He was an assistant coach and the pitching coach at Luther during the 2015 season. One of his pitchers was named First-Team All-Central Region and two were named all-conference.
Barthel also served as a head coach for St. Michael (Minn.) Legion Baseball from June 2012 to July 2015 and assisted at St. Michael-Albertville High School.
Barthel played two seasons at Itasca (Minn.) Community College before transferring to Minnesota-Duluth, where he lettered one season.
He graduated from UMD in 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology and earned his Master’s Degree in physical education/coaching of sport from Southwest Minnesota in 2017.
